Getting Paperback onto amazon.com.au

I was checking out the amazon.com.au website and noticed only the Kindle version of the book is there. I know Lulu.com prints out of Melbourne, VIC is there a reason paperback versions of the book are not sold through amazon.com.au? I did see the paperback in the UK's website.

How long has it been since you approved the book? It can take 6 to 8 weeks to show up on all site. Also you might notice only the cover showing and not the blurb or perhaps it might say not avaiable. Once it gets there it show in parts sometimes so give it time.

My Kindle versions of my books I put on Amazon myself, and they show on Amazon Australia.

My print versions are all through Lulu, and none show up available in print format on Amazon Australia. This goes for two books that have been out for a few years.

TheJesusNinja wrote:

How long has it been since you approved the book? It can take 6 to 8 weeks to show up on all site. Also you might notice only the cover showing and not the blurb or perhaps it might say not avaiable. Once it gets there it show in parts sometimes so give it time.

Yeah.. I'm looking at sending a signed copy of my paperback to a friend in Texas and it's around $15-$16 AUD.

I know what you're talking about TJN, on Amazon.com the book showed, no cover or availability for a few days. But I think this has something to do with Lulu or Amazon. I know from being here in Australia that when I order any books myself off Lulu they print locally down in Melbourne, to avoid international shipping charges. However, I'm not sure how a book is processed when ordered through Amazon.com when published through Lulu? Does Amazon themselves send the book out to be POD or does a request come through to Lulu to POD and then ship it on Amazon's behalf like a drop shipment type of deal.

In addition to Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, I noticed I had to fill out my About the Author again and sign up again over on the co.uk site as it did not have any of my details shared over from the main Amazon.com site. FYI for anyone keeping up on that like myself.

My reasoning for asking this is that I'm preparing to approach bookstores here in Australia about stocking my book and just was wondering who they might go through as the local distributor?

I don't want to dash your hopes but bookstores operate on very deep discounts (like up to 60 %) and a sale or return basis, which is the reason why you will find very few - if any - print on demand self-published books in bookstores. They need to pay probably no more than 50 % of the cover price which will not cover the cost of manufacture and the distributor's cut. Also, if a bookstore orders a batch of books from a publisher and no one buys them they return them to the publisher for a refund but this can't happen with print on demand.

You might be able to buy a few of your books from Lulu and ask a bookstore to sell them on consignment but don't expect any kind of widespread distribution of your books. If any bookstore did want to buy a copy they can order one from the distribution partners (perhaps Ingrams; the bookstores will know who their local supplier is) but chances are slim that they would want to for the reasons mentioned above.

Amazon.com is where the vast majority of print on demand self-published books are sold.

Just for grins as long as your work isn't photo-heavy, try making a private access project clone of the book where the only difference is 50# paper instead of the 60# premium paper.

From a cost-effectiveness perspective, this will allow you to print out a few promotional copies to hand out without wincing.

danielblue wrote:

I don't want to dash your hopes but bookstores operate on very deep discounts (like up to 60 %) and a sale or return basis, which is the reason why you will find very few - if any - print on demand self-published books in bookstores. They need to pay probably no more than 50 % of the cover price which will not cover the cost of manufacture and the distributor's cut. Also, if a bookstore orders a batch of books from a publisher and no one buys them they return them to the publisher for a refund but this can't happen with print on demand.

You might be able to buy a few of your books from Lulu and ask a bookstore to sell them on consignment but don't expect any kind of widespread distribution of your books. If any bookstore did want to buy a copy they can order one from the distribution partners (perhaps Ingrams; the bookstores will know who their local supplier is) but chances are slim that they would want to for the reasons mentioned above.

Amazon.com is where the vast majority of print on demand self-published books are sold.

Thanks for your insight danielblue, even if it's not hopeful, I'm new to the game and just trying to figure out all the rules. I do have a few extended questions based on your response.

According to bookstore not wanting to physically carry a POD book, then that would be every single book in a bookstore is through a publisher where discounts are made and the chance to return unsold is offered. If this is true, I'm curious why book store will have a Bargin or Sale bin with books half-off to very cheap? If they could just return them for a full refund.

I have checked around and some store (ex: Barnes & Nobles) does welcome local POD authors for book signings. If the store does not intend to carry those type of books, what advantage do they have supporting a book even by a POD author in their store?

Sales bring customers into stores where they may buy some full priced-books too; some products are used as loss leaders to entice customers to buy other goods.

I'm not saying that you will never find a POD book in a bookstore but chances are slim, and if you do find one there it is probably being sold on a consignment basis.

Traditionally, a publisher would set a price for a book and then offer the bookstore a deep discount. The bookstore makes enough money to pay its staff, rent, etc and the publisher makes enough money (hopefully) to cover the manufacturing costs of the book. If the book is not a success the publisher makes a loss and may not want to see anything else that author has to offer, unless they believe he has unrealized potential.

With POD books the authors sets the price but, as you will have found out when distributing books, half of the cover price goes to the distributor and then the manufacturing costs has to come out of what is left. So if the bookstore orders a book from the distributor they are not going to get the discounts they are used to as the distributor will be loathe to give up their cut. The bookstore might order a book if a customer requests it but they certainly are not going to stock their shelves. Shelf space in a book store is at a premium anyway. Books by authors who sell will be at eye level, with the cover visible, and perhaps untried authors will be stacked with only the spines visible, or lower down.

What I am telling you is bad news, but it is also how bookselling works. It makes me sad to see self-published authors trying to get their books into bookstores when they should be concentrating their efforts on selling their print books on Amazon.com. Even if you get a book into your local bookstore that does not mean it will be picked up nationally. There are trade fairs and trade magazine for the book trade whereby publishers let book sellers know what is new on their list. Bookstores (usually) want to make a profit so they will order books that others are ordering and that they know will sell. If a self-published author finds a way to break out and sell loads of books you can guarantee that a publisher will come knocking on his or her door, wanting in on the action.

Basically, book selling is a closed shop. You can't just walk into a book store with a bag of books and expect them to rub their hands in glee.

The only sure way to have your books on a public shelf is to sell some brand new copies as second-hand books to a second-hand-bookstore. You will make next to no money, but your book will become more visible, and this will be a sort of advertisement. It is therefore important to select the right store.

Yep, I've considered this option as well as getting a booth at a local event and split the cost with 1-2 other authors. Not hoping to take on the big publishers, but get my material out there in circulation, yet recoup a little something of my cost. The same reason to do a giveaway, get eyes on the cover and then hopefully page.

By the way, if anyone here is on Goodreads.com, I'm doing a giveaway of my novel there, the entry is still open for a few more weeks.

San Antonio has the closest annual (as far as I can determine) comic-con to me, and when the organizers bother to answer email I'll see about doing a booth or table and have the less-expensive versions (50# paper) of my work available.

Have you tried an Amazon giveaway? I usually run a week-long giveaway promotion and get upwards of a thousand entrants. Sometimes the title being given away gets an uptick in sales even before the promotion has ended.

Have you tried an Amazon giveaway? I usually run a week-long giveaway promotion and get upwards of a thousand entrants. Sometimes the title being given away gets an uptick in sales even before the promotion has ended.

First, find your book on Amazon.com (it has to be .com as the Giveaways are only available on .com). In the bottom left hand you will see a thumbnail of your book and a link to Create a Giveaway.

Click on that link and log in with your Amazon account. You can choose to give away between 1 and 30 copies of your book. It will cost you the full cover price of the book (you get your royalty back) plus postage on the book, probably about $ 5. You should be able to log in with an Amazon France account and set up a giveaway which will only be open to customers who live in the USA.

You can create 3 email messages; one will be seen by everyone who is interested in entering. The second will be seen by everyone who has entered and the third will be seen by the winner/s.

First, find your book on Amazon.com (it has to be .com as the Giveaways are only available on .com). In the bottom left hand you will see a thumbnail of your book and a link to Create a Giveaway. [...]

Thanks a lot. Your explanation is clear and useful. Amazon.com (US) carries all my books including the French ones. I'll try the giveaway with American friends.

Going to revisit this thread as my initial question was never really answered. I'm an American living in Australia at the moment. My Amazon account is with Amazon.com. When I go to the Amazon.com.au website, I see only my Kindle Version, this seems to be the case for a lot of books that usually come up under my book search on amazon.com that also have paperback copies. But only Kindle versions are being offered. I can not see any links or methods to submit to have my paperback offered on amazon.com.au. Does anyone know why amazon.com.au does not offer paperback versions offered on amazon.com? I'm thankful I went with Lulu.com as I can at least get copies sold over here through them, but just trying to broaden my market.

My best guess is it's due to how Amazon and its subsidiaries in different countries operate. I do my Kindle versions through KDP while I do my print/epub versions through Lulu. My print versions show up on some but not all Amazon subsidiaries. The AU site would be an example of where print versions don't show while the JP site shows some but not others.

It may be due to Amazon offering an ISBN for print versions done through their self-pub subsidiary, as one book I did after that change doesn't show in certain venues whereas others done before do.

This is interesting; Amazon Australia does indeed now have a
print division. What is strange is that it only carries books distributed
through Ingrams and not the ones published through Create Space (which is an
Amazon company).

Yep! It's a step in the right direction. Now if Amazon Australia could get their act together and setup Author pages for us like the US and UK have. Australia is seriously behind the times on a lot of thing.

This is interesting; Amazon Australia does indeed now have a
print division. What is strange is that it only carries books distributed
through Ingrams and not the ones published through Create Space (which is an
Amazon company).

Since Amazonia is now doing ISBN as well, print versions with one will be listed.

Yes, Createspace would be the best people to ask about the
non appearance of books in the Australian Amazon store. I wasn't expecting an
answer from anyone here in the forum; I was simply commenting that the books in
the Amazon Australia store are only ones that have been distributed there by Ingrams
and excluded ones published through Amazon itself (in the guise of
Createspace). You then said that if the Amazon books had an ISBN they would
show up in Amazon Australia. I was simply pointing out that this is incorrect;
I wasn't expecting anyone to give me the reason why the books aren't showing
up.